Goldenheart

The only thing I want these days is a game that feels like it was made by a real human and not a corporate committee. Goldenheart delivers entirely in that respect. If you want that, you'll like this.

I wanted to write something extensive, but Im just very overwhelmed and lack the intellectuality to properly convey everything I experienced, I leave that to my feathered and wise friend. Its simply fantastic, even if it starts off slow. Zelda and Dread Delusion vibes, lots of environmental puzzles and a really cool world to explore. Amazing atmosphere and soundtrack. Combat is basic but fun. Felt partially like a Metroidvania. It turned my expectations around several times, thats some well thought out storytelling and world building. Absolute steal for the price. I had such a good time, all I can say in the end is: I need more milleniapede in my life. Go make a new game right now, Im not asking.

very nice game

Это настоящий хидден гем, потрясающая игра. Не совсем данжен кроулер, скорее приключение от первого лица. Выглядит и звучит невероятно, особенно поражает визуал во второй половине игры. Ходишь ишешь решение текущей локации, дерешься с противниками, прыгаешь по платформам. Местами нужно очень хорошенько подумать головой, но всегда есть подсказки, просто иногда они немного эзотеричны и поэтому доходят не с первого раза. Очень хорошо сделан левел дизайн, игра вроде бы полностью линейная, но в то же время ты постоянно то просто бэктрекаешь, то выход из локации возвращает тебя куда-то в начало, локации меняются и всё очень круто. Игра постоянно подбрасывает что-то новое, местами очень сильно душит прогрессией сложности, но это всегда ощущается как нехватка навыка, а не плохой дизайн. История относительно простая, но написано хорошо, текста довольно мало, но при этом мир ощущается глубоким и интересным.

The first video game I ever played was the original Legend of Zelda on the NES. I think when I play an adventure game I always think back to that one game. Goldenheart is a well crafted game. I've heard through the wire that it was developed by only two people. It is very unique and I would highly recommend anyone play it all the way through. The game does have SOME bugs but nothing I encountered was game breaking. If you get stuck, I am working on a user guide to the game on Steam, but in the meantime I would recommend LobosJrs' playthrough on YouTube because he plays through a majority of the game.

This game is fun despite having limited mechanics and simple graphics. The emphasis is on exploration, and combat is not too difficult, but just enough to give some challenge. I normally dislike boss fights but so far they have been rather fun, each displaying a particular weak point that takes a bit of trial and error to discover.

Goldenheart is an adventure game where you explore around so you can try to kill a wizard. You hate wizards? Yeah, me too. Pondering all the time. But really though, you find yourself sitting in a valley with you and your friends, mostly lost, and your team has decided you have to find the way out. On the way, you end up in a story that’s a bit more bigger than you expected. The first thing that most of you’d like to know, is does the game look better than the trailer looks? So, the game is exactly as kind of jank as you’d expect. The graphics won’t feel better when you’re playing it. If that’s a problem for you, then you should probably stop now and go play something else. Honestly though, the graphics look fine for what they’re trying to do. The aesthetic and art direction is generally pretty good and consistent, even during some of the weirder portions. Really solid. Except Darah. Darah needs some food. The story itself is pretty linear. You listen to what the NPCs tell you where to go next, find the puzzle or boss, then keep going. Pretty standard, but it all works well. Aside from a few puzzles, you’ll never need to get help from a playthrough or walkthrough. The main thing I can suggest is just explore around and take note of your surroundings. As far as the content of the story, it’s there. I’m not the best person to review that side, but I was amused through out. The lore was pretty consistent, every thing seemed like it mattered, and there weren’t any rug-throughs. It’s nice. Nothing like, excellent, but nice. Oh and for those like me, it didn’t have too many (any?) typoes. Combat in the game is decently fun. You generally try to rock-scissors-paper your way through with sword, block, dodge, or arrow. Each enemy tends to have a right way to defeat them. For equipment, you have a sword, shield, and bow-and-arrow. They can be upgraded through story stuff, but that’s about it. They don’t really do much other than a small amount of damage, but they almost don’t matter much. Basically, let’s just say the game is solid enough to play and have fun. The game also has a lot of platforming, but it’s not that hard even though platforming on FPS games isn’t that great. All in all, we can just say that this is a solid game. Hope the devs keep making more stuff. [hr][/hr] If you’d like to see the game in motion through my eyes, [url=https://kuoushi.com/videos/goldenheart-complete-archive/]take a look at this archive of me playing it[/url] here. It should give you a good idea of how the game plays and what to expect.

Little gem of a game. Sometimes weirdly unforgiving, sometimes honestly funny. It deserves way more fame for what it accomplished, and overcoming its many challenges feels rewarding. The universe is quite charming too, and the soundtrack is certainly unique. Give it a try!

Goldenheart is an unconventional Zelda-like created by a two-person indie team. I would describe it as a Metroidvania without backtracking. Or rather, you do return to old areas a couple of times, but this is driven entirely by the story rather than by newly acquired abilities. The Metroidvania element comes from the steady stream of new tools and mechanics. Some are entirely new, while others enhance the weapons you already have. Even the humble torch is useful not only for lighting dark dungeons but also for solving puzzles. At the same time, the game has no leveling system: character progression consists entirely of expanding your arsenal and discovering hidden health upgrades. These are exceptionally well concealed - out of 16 bonus health points, I managed to find only ten. What’s more, this is the kind of game where the better equipped you become, the harder the challenges get. During the final 15% of the game, I had to lower the difficulty from Normal to Easy because it was beginning to feel like the Halfquake, only without quicksaves, which Goldenheart does not have. In fact, it lacks many other conventional features as well: there is no map, no inventory, no journal, and, as I have already mentioned - no leveling system. There is a chalkboard for recording the symbols used to open doors, but you could manage without it simply by sketching or photographing them outside the game. For the most part, the game expects you to figure things out for yourself while still gently guiding you in the right direction. All the information required to advance the story is placed in plain sight. Where to go and what to do is either explained in notes or mentioned in dialogue. The main thing is to remember it while you are busy wrestling with the puzzles. Above all else, Goldenheart is a game about solving spatial puzzles. Each location is a meticulously crafted biome in which every rock, plank, and enemy occupies a carefully chosen position and serves a specific purpose. Each major section of the world follows a three-part structure, although the game does not let you choose which region to visit first. It could be described as semi-open: you explore the side regions first, then proceed to the central area. This pattern repeats several times, eventually leading to a choice between three endings. Our journey begins in the fantasy land of Tuldenorrea, which incorporates elements of the American Southwest, somewhere near the Mexican border. [spoiler]After following the linear path to the settlement of Histahnia, the protagonist must cross a region of sandstorms and Shai-Hulud-like creatures to reach the tower of the evil wizard Cazanseco. He is responsible for the local population’s misfortunes and for the surge in vicious, anatomically improbable creatures roaming the surrounding area. To find a way across the desert, you must first explore the rocky, cave-filled regions on either side of the settlement. Things grow even stranger in the wizard’s abandoned city. Indescribable creatures pour into our world through portals, while the antagonist’s laboratory rests in the hands of a colossal statue that turns out to be a petrified giant. After your “introduction” to Cazanseco, a couple of plot twists, and some unexpected alliances, passages finally open into parallel dimensions - worlds unlike anything you have seen before. Tul Alorea could perhaps be described as a blend of Salvador Dalí’s paintings, Morrowind, and the borderworld of Xen. Tul Enorye, meanwhile, is a cold, austere realm of bureaucracy and concrete, featuring the game’s most complex puzzles, most devious challenges, and a platforming section that, though brief, is utterly merciless.[/spoiler] Some of the challenges found in these other worlds were unlike anything I had encountered before. One puzzle, for instance, requires you [spoiler]to break through the walls of a maze by tricking a laser-equipped owl turret into firing at the right spots. Another requires you to use a similar turret to break the spell on statues depicting snake-like maidens armed with bows.[/spoiler] These tasks probably took me longer than any others. Not only do you have to plan everything meticulously, but you also have to avoid dying while putting your brilliant scheme into action - and that takes a great deal of patience and concentration. There are also plenty of more familiar puzzles involving teleporters, portals, and enemies to keep your eyes peeled for. You will activate platforms and open passages, sometimes under strict time limits, while also searching for keys, pressure plates, and switches that must be hit from a distance. More often than not, persistence and composure are the keys to success. Sometimes you must carefully navigate lengthy sections featuring invisible paths high above the ground, along with other forms of “mountaineering.” These sequences are not mechanically complex, but the ingenious placement of autosaves keeps you on edge - a brilliant effect achieved through remarkably simple means. You also have to keep track of your arrows and health while managing your stamina when blocking attacks. Rushing inevitably means replaying the same sections over and over again. Mindlessly swinging your sword or shooting everything in sight is not the answer either. You should eliminate only those obstacles that cannot be avoided, and in the correct order. Anything that can be ignored should be ignored. I do not think I fought a single sword-wielding skeleton throughout the entire game, as they are easy to avoid. Archers, however, can be a real nuisance. As you gradually come to understand the logic behind each location and appreciate the meticulous care that went into the level design, the game unfolds before you step by step, world by world. Each new type of challenge layer upon the existing ones. For all its variety, Goldenheart is relatively short, taking around 15 hours to complete, yet it feels incredibly eventful. There is never a dull moment. The sudden “Wait, what?!” plot twists, the diverse creatures and bosses, each requiring a different approach, and the varied gameplay, which demands both ingenuity and composure, all combine to create an unforgettable adventure. It is a magical fairy tale that, once you fall under its spell, you will not want to abandon, even when it leaves you temporarily stuck.

Goldenheart takes quite a while to get used to but when it finally clicks its few hours of pure retro action goodness. Based only on screenshots I assumed the game will be some kind of RPG, something similiar in gameplay to Gothic or Morrowind but on smaller scale. But it doenst have any RPG mechanics, ther are barely any dialogue and in the end it feels much more like a typical older action game like dark messiah or even half life. The combat system is very simple but satisfaying, and controls are tight and precise. Every aspect of the game is sprinkled with really smart design decisions and ideas, like making the bow very powerful but limiting player to handful of arrows, not to mention the whole torch mechanic. Just cheff kiss. Nearly every enemy have some kind of weakness that the player needs to figure out and which reminds me a lot of Gothic 2. It also have that Dark Souls exploration where you are awarded for paying attention and taking your time, Sometimes its easy to get lost, but figuring out what to do next is always fun. However the game could still use some kind of "what should I do now?" prompt, especially after a longer break. Also the endgame kinda drags, with constant major lore reveals and reused boss enemies. In the end, i have my gold, i have my heart, and im more then satisfied.